Spain´s progress on SDGs 11 and 13

Abstract

Since the First Industrial Revolution, the increase in human activities based on the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, coupled with the ever-accelerating growth of the world population, has triggered an unprecedented climate crisis. As is being proven, urban environments are the most vulnerable systems to the effects of this crisis, and therefore measures must be taken to mitigate them. The Sustainable Development Goals consist of 17 strategies that governments must fulfill to minimize the critical issues human development faces. There are different SDGs that are primarily aimed at ensuring the habitability and sustainability of human settlements (SDG 11), and the consequences of the climate crisis (SDG 13). There is an urgent need to develop strong regulations that protect and promote urban trees and the development of urban and peri-urban green spaces. These green areas, in addition to improving the quality of life in cities, provide essential ecosystem services that help mitigate the adverse effects of the climate crisis: they create carbon sinks, regulate temperature, generate barriers against air and noise pollution, and also reduce stress levels, creating lasting physical and mental well-being for urban inhabitants. After an exhaustive analysis of different databases, the conclusions of this study are the following: In Spain, the concentration of urban pollutants and CO2 emissions per capita are being reduced, the surface area of green areas in cities is increasing. Progress is being made on SDGs 11 and 13. The main components that we must measure to monitor the SDGs studied consist of ozone concentration, CO2 emissions from the transport sector, PM10 type pollutants and the percentage of green area. In addition to the official SDG 11 and 13 indicators, it is necessary to study other values such as the percentage of the population with access to green surface, the quality of them and the urban NDVI index.